It's Friday...

And I'm not at home, and blogger is rubbish on the iPhone so my apologies and I will post soon!

Progress part 2!

At the start of this year I wrote a blog posting entitled progress where I shared the first completed portrait for a series entitled Still Moving that I need to complete in order to finish my MA in Creative Technology at Salford Uni.

It's been many bumpy months but portrait two of three is now complete...




I'd love to know what you think? Obviously it'll look much better viewed for real once it is in it's box frame print. On that point if you know a carpenter or anyone who's very good with a jigsaw please, please get in touch. When these are printed for real they're going to be in a box frame portrait, a beautiful framed photographic print that I then need to cut into to make the hole for the moving bit.

It won't be as long between this and the last portrait- Jo, I promise! I already have the filmed element.

Civil Partnership, Preview Post, Nunsmere Hall Hotel, Northwich

I've just got home from my first ever civil partnership wedding. Amy and Hayley are some of the nicest and most down to earth people I've ever met and the emotion in the ceremony room today was the most intense I have experienced. What an amazing group of people to spend a day with!

These are my two stand out pictures from the day. Let me know what you think? Expect the full blog photostory once the girls have returned from honeymoon in two weeks. Have a great one!

Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday

OK so I'm really late but it's still Friday (just). I've been on a recce for a wedding in four weeks today and I'm also preparing for another on Sunday so this week I want to share with you another photographer's work.

Tobiah Tayo is one of the best photographers in my local area and I've been following his blog for sometime now. And he was photographer at the wedding I attended last weekend for my friends Pete and Gill. This is the only wedding this year I'm attending rather than photographing so I did the right thing and put a pretty dress on and got really drunk ;)


I think this is my favourite from his blog posting. It also highlights how my style differs as my approach to photography doesn't involve the need for (a little) faff and the need to carry equipment that a shot like this requires, but that doesn't mean I love it any less. In fact I really love Tobiah's work and the way he puts his blogs together so go have a look!

Happy honeymoon Pete and Gill.

Preview pictures from Sundays wedding to follow this week.

Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday

This week I've tried to turn my attention back to my masters. You may remember a couple of months back I used favourite photo Friday to help me choose a still portrait of May. Well this week I finally decided which one I want to use and sent off a trial print with the space for the film ready.




It was putting in the space for the film which helped me choose, that and the fact that this concentrated look was the original plan, regardless of how cute some of the others are!

This coming week I WILL edit the film, oh yes, positive mental attitude!!

Have a great weekend.

Ross and Bex, St Mary's and The Bowdon Rooms. Wedding Photostory

Okay, I have a glass of red wine in hand and I've just watched the season finale of Desperate Housewives so I'm happy emotional and I think this is the perfect state to write Ross and Bex's wedding photostory. I've struggled to keep the number of pictures down so bare with me.

To view all the photos from the day, and buy, click here.

I arrived at Cat's mum's house where the ladies were all getting ready, to be greeted with everyone in rollers.



And pink bubbly...




I went outside to take this next view looking into the amazing conservatory!



Burnt orange was the colour of the day, look at this amazing bouquet.




I just love this next picture of Cat wearing an apron to prevent any lunch getting on her bridesmaids dress!



When all the ladies were ready I took a lot of formals in the garden but I'm just going to share with you this one because there is just something lovely about pictures of Bex with her sister Tania



So then 5 mins drive away from the girls everyone was in the pub across the road from the church. I only really wanted a photo of the men in wedding dress but I got all of them instead ;)



It works though, with the church in the background and pints in hand! Next up my favourite from, finally, getting the men together.



And I really like this as they make their way over to the church.



When the bridesmaids arrived I made them all stop for a portrait.



Then the arrival of the bride followed by the ceremony.







Dad hands her over!






The whole church was full. And what a stunning church it is.



You can see how much they love each other in this next photo.



I already shared this next photo in my preview however I have since tweaked it with a HDR effect to make it look even more stunning.



This congregation loves a good sing!



During the signing a small group really got the chance to show their love of singing. They performed Seasons of Love from Rent (the show SMAOS are doing next FYI blog followers) and Rhythm of Life.





And as they walked out, what I believe was a surprise to Bex, random members, just from where they were standing, sang All You Need Is Love



And then the bells rang.



Outside now and I love this shot.



None of my best confetti shots seem to have any confetti in them which is a bit of a shame!



We took lots and lots of group shots in record time, just how I like it! However 1 in every 3 Ross had his eyes shut, grr! The sea of people shot didn't change so please check back to my preview or flickr to see that.

So onto the best bit, photo wise, and my time to get some portraits in.





Cute little sequence right? And I know you've seen the next one but this is THE image, the one I wanted to get for them, this is my best work as I see it. I want to put of copy of it on my wall, no matter theirs!



And there's more from my portrait time...







This next photo is a 'Bex Face', required when Bex starts doing staged smiles to bring out a genuine one. The following image is the result!





The next picture we achieved on the recce however they are now in their wedding outfits and I gave it the HDR treatment. Another wall image don't you think?



I stole this look from my favourite image from Mike and Pam's wedding. It's my last shot from the portraits sequence.



Next up, a nice bit of cheesy ;) cake cutting!



The speeches were great, there's a lot of pictures but this one is the biggest laugh!



I may have been outside when the first dance started, ahem, however this doesn't mean I didn't get some lovely shots of the evening's entertainment and dancing...







Finally, before I put my camera down, some friends performed a Blues Brothers section. Ross is part of a group called Rat Pack Revival and I have photographed them many times. It was that part of my photography brain that I switched on to get this last selection of images.









I hope you agree that these are my best selection of images yet. I really put pressure on myself for this wedding because Ross and Bex are both pretty amazing people generally, and too me personally, so these photos are my way of saying everything that needs to be said.

That's as gushy as I get on here.

Have good weekend those who've managed to read to this point :)

Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday

It's always a last minute decision for me on social events whether I will take a good camera (or be content with just my iPhone) because although I love taking pictures it's not the only part of me that needs to have fun!

However for last weekend's camping trip I was in a picture taking mood, and I'm glad because there was some really fun moments to photograph.

For favourite photo Friday though, amongst all the fun, there are two pictures that stand out for me. What do you make of these?







Without thinking about the context there is something beautiful about both. The first strikes me as an 'alternative adventure' story image. It just works for me, composition, coming out of the dark etc. The second is obviously a lot more conventional, very filmic, I knew exactly how I would post produce it as soon as I took it.

However the context throws these images for me! On a planned walk around a reservoir my friends saw the mobility scooters and asked if anyone could hire them. So we did a 4 mile walk with two of the group having too much fun on electric scooters. Somehow these images make that look cool. It probably shouldn't have been ;)


I'll be doing Ross and Bex's photostory this evening so check back.

Sarah's Favourite Photo Friday

Today I'd like to share another of my favourite, blog writing, wedding photographers with you.

Roger Overall has written a three part blog posting entitled The Art of Documentary Wedding Photography and it has really helped me to explain and understand my own style. I only discovered this blog in the last week as another of my blogs referred to it.

You can find the blog posting here, with easy links to parts 2 and 3.

Some of the points made that really resonate with me are as follows.

• What is Documentary

Roger talks about how he respects the wedding day as just that, not a look at the photographer day! He is setting out to preserve the facts of the day not direct them. I feel strongly about this too and some of the methods he describes are exactly what I find myself doing.

• Technique
  

It's just little things like if you're photographing during the ceremony and need to move you don't do it until there is some movement in what is going on, for example a reader getting up, so that you don't distract from what is going on. I have been doing this without thinking about it because it just feels right but it was reassuring to see it highlighted.

• Anticipation
  

Roger talks about one of the main skills being anticipation. This is where my years of people watching come in! If you can predict what someone is going to do, you can be there to photograph the moment, with chance to position yourself for the shot you want. In addition to this all weddings follow certain patterns so the more experience I get, the better I'm getting at being there to capture that moment.

• Number of images
  

I love Roger's little side comment about number of pictures. I completely agree that some weddings can be fully captured with 150-200 images. I don't want to feel pressured to create 1000 images and those photographers that are creating this many are the ones interfering with the day, every new directed pose is a new image. I am taking what happens and presenting to you the best of those moments. It was a real relief for me to read this!

• Post production
  

The points on post production are similar to my views, I call myself a 'bit of a purist' but that does mean you can't crop or turn something black and white. On top of this I also have my 'specials' because I love playing with new styles. But they do date, the majority of my images will be simple.

• Group photographs
  

I was very pleased to read that Roger does do these, because you can't avoid it, the expectation on a wedding day in England is huge! However he and I are perfecting the method for getting them done super fast! This requires knowing exactly what you're doing and where in advance, I will always request this information and plan it on the venue recce.

• Bride and Groom Portraits
  

For me though, in addition to groups, outside of the 'documentary' style my preference is to have 30 minutes to get some bride and groom portraits done. And the reason I am confident to keep this in my style is the number of times I've been told that the bride and groom really appreciated the break, and the chance to catch up with each other. That and a chance to get some great images of course.

Part three really shows Roger's passion for the day itself, it's really lovely to read. I love his observation of the moments when everyone else takes photographs. I too love taking pictures of everyone else taking pictures and it is a very predictable moment (signing, cake cutting and first dance!)


I got a great boost from finding someone whose views about wedding photography match mine but then I looked back over my last few weddings and saw that my final results don't demonstrate the style I feel most passionate about. No I don't like to get in the way, but recently I've felt I've had to, to get the shots I want. The picture I included at the top of this posting is a good documentary image of mine because it was a special and unique moment with an 8 year old delivering a speech and his Dad, the groom, showing such lovely laughter next to him. But speeches are a given. I am taking a lot from what I have read to move my style forward.

So that was this week's Favourite Photo.